David Thorne Scott: Press

Top Five Vocals of 2004
(not in rank order)

Andy Bey. American Song. Savoy Jazz
Kitty Margoli.s Heart & Soul: Live in San Francisco. Mad-Kat
Mark Murphy. Bop for Miles. HighNOte
David Thorne Scott. Shade.
Judi Silvano. Let Yourself Go. Zoho.

Other Top Vocals of 2004
Irene Kral. Just for Now. Jazzed Media
Dianne Reeves. Christmas Time is Here. Blue Note
Tierney Sutton. Dancing in the Dark. Telarc.
Nancy Wilson. RSVP. Manchester Craftsmen's Guild
Giacomo Gates. Centerpiece. Origin
Roseanna Vitro. Tropical Postcards. Challenge
Jane Monheit. Taking a Chance on Love. Sony
Ray Charles. Genius Loves Company. Concord Jazz
Tom Lellis. Southern Exposure. Adventure Music
Bob Dorough. Sunday at Iridium. Arbors
Kalley Johnson. Live at Birdland. Jazzconnect
South City Voices. Got Swing! Self produced


DAVID THORNE SCOTT. Shade. Self produced. On my first audition of David Thorne Scott, I was knocked out. The jazz singer/arranger is also a composer/lyricist who is a welcome change from the more predictable vocal jazzers in the competitive vocal milieu.
Scott's voice is refreshingly different; he explores, discovers, and shares resulting creative approaches to melodies and doesn't fail to swing. His valuation of the import of melody and controlled use of dynamics is crystal clear. There is excitement in his shifts in tempo, appealing motifs, and phrasing at intriguing junctures, all executed in a pure sweet tone. These traits are funneled into his occasionally playful improvisations and dramatic story telling.
Besides his own five originals, there are the familiar "Just One of Those Things," "Have You Met Miss Jones," "April in Paris," "Dancing on the Ceiling," and an impressive mood-setting of the ballad "For All We Know." His bandmates, like Scott, are Berklee College faculty members - pianist Mark Shilansky, bassist John Funkhouser, drummer Jon Hazilla, and saxophonist Daryl Lowery. We're sure to hear more from and about David Thorne Scott.

David Thorne Scott is a singer with a mellow tenor voice and a real feel for the improvisatory wonders of Jazz. He fares very well on imaginative arrangements of the usual clutch of standards here, like a starry-eyed and dancing “Have You Met Miss Jones?” and an “April In Paris” that shifts tempo several times. He also has fun with several non standard tunes including a bunch of his own work. “Shade” has a sharp funk edge and “Get Out Of Your Own Way” is a swinging brush-off song with a slick bass line. “Clown Stalking” has an up and down melody that gives Scott a chance to really show off his vocal prowess and “Saratoga Hunch” is some typically wry David Frishberg that Scott sings with the requisite casual coolness. His group is an excellent match for his swinging, punchy vocals, particularly the rock solid bass work of John Funkhouser and the soulful Phil Woods-like interjections of alto player Daryl Lowery. Unlike the glorified cabaret singers being pushed as new male Jazz singing stars today, Scott does this music the right way. He phrases like a saxophone player and is as slippery and hip as the young Mel Torme. It would be nice to see some big label pick him up and sell him like they do a Peter Cincotti. Unfortunately, he’s probably too good for that.

Four-and-a-half stars out of five

Months ago I received a review copy of Here Come the Boys: A Canadian Crooner Collection, featuring 15 male voices singing jazz standards. A few mildly successful highlights aside, I found some of these performances to be entirely bland, others blatantly atrocious.

Aside from those boys belonging to the male sex, they seemed connected only by the predictability of their clichéd executions. Although I was semi-stunned at some of the selected mediocrity, I recall hoping this wouldn’t become the new element of surprise in 21st century jazz recordings.

Luckily “Shade” has calmed me down considerably. David Thorne Scott’s dazzling debut, which features 7 standards, 5 originals and one by Paul Simon, is not just an affirmation of his artistry – it raises the bar for singers who claim to take themselves seriously.

Crystal clear diction, squeaky clean tone and the ability to scat like a true horn player are among the qualities that set this vocalist apart from hundreds of thousands of jazz singers of either sex. It comes as no surprise that he is an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music, for Scott’s intellectually stimulating take on the music exudes the perfectionism one might only expect from a devoted academic.

Scat – a four-letter S-word – is often given a bad name, usually because jazz singers use it incorrectly or in bad taste. From Giacomo Gates to Julie Michels, there are vocalists out there that seem enormously talented until they start scatting. It isn’t enough to randomly toss out the scoolyadoos and shoolyabops – one must master the syllabic instrument in a jazz context if he/she is singing jazz.

This means a swinging grasp on harmonic, melodic and rhythmic improvisation, and it all has to be as interesting as what one might expect from an instrument. Without these essential qualities scat singers miss the point completely, and I am happy to report that Dave is not one of these singers. The sweetest chorus I have heard so far from his lips: a thrilling sample of “There Will Never Be Another You”, available on his website.

Luckily Scott is respectful enough to abstain from scatting on standard fare such as “April in Paris” and “For All We Know”, thereby managing to bewitch with his skillful brand of storytelling. These tracks are a superb display of Scott’s sophisticated musical direction and spotless technique. Besides emerging as a genuine romantic, the singer is able to playfully refashion melody in a manner that consistently enhances a lyric.

If the weakest element in “Shade” is Dave Scott’s own originals, let this be a compliment, for they aren’t half bad. From the uncanny “Clown Stalking” to the inspirational “Small Feats”, some of these are nearly as stimulating as his revitalizing interpretations of worn-out standards.

I hope scat singers are among the listeners that take note of David Thorne Scott: an indisputable jazz artist that belongs in the spotlight.

David Thorne Scott and Mark Shilansky have been playing music together for over five years, but it took a happy accident to bring about their latest project. David had a collection of 20 or so new songs and arrangements, and had the idea to go into the recording studio with Mark to create demo versions of as many songs as they could crank out in three hours. The end result is DYAD, self released by Scott, a collection of Jazz, Pop and Cabaret, this delightful CD takes you on a journey of sublime.

A duet can be a stark and sometimes lifeless setting if put in the wrong hands. Scott and Shilansky handle the task with effortless mastery and a bit of humor as exhibited on "Agitated," a humorous take on the foils of modern day life and its many emotions from day to day. Scott is an eloquent lyricist and composer. Shilansky is a worthy foil to Scott's able and agile vocal abilities. The two dodge and weave their way through each melody.

My favorite cut on the CD is "Grow," a Scott original. This cut allows Scott to truly showcase his true tone and storytelling abilities within the lyric and harmony. Many times male vocalists don't exhibit tone as much as character within their voices. Scott is one of those rare male vocalists who not only exhibits clear tone, diction and articulation, but he also has a pleasing timbre and amazing ability to tell a storyline of organic honesty within each line of the lyric.

DYAD is a true duet masterpiece. If you enjoy a duet settings and vocal jazz, this is a must for any jazz collection, a true joy for any vocal jazz fan.

“I started wanting to sing when I heard Bobby McFerrin for the first time.” This short declaration could summarize the musical influences of David Thorne Scott, one of the most interesting singers balanced between jazz and pop on today’s American musical scene. Originally from Nebraska, but a resident of Massachusetts for many years, the vocalist, composer and pianist, however, doesn’t limit himself to McFerrin when citing his principal references in the use of the voice; the ever-present Ella Fitzgerald, Take 6 and Mel Torme follow directly in the list of influences.

Associate professor of vocal technique at Berklee College of Music in Boston, he has always placed his teaching alongside his activities as a soloist, and he himself has always said, “teaching and being a father are the things most important to me, those that I try to do better.” His debut disc, dated 2004 and entitled “Shade,” received enthusiastic reviews in the specialty publications—especially the American—and some compared him to Kurt Elling, for certain resonances and for that refined and a little melancholy aspect that they share. But this is not just a solo career: in fact Scott, alongside this musical path, works in vocal groups, like Syncopation and Vocalogy. And now he turns, after 7 years, to cut a disc as leader: we are talking about “Dyad,” which collects many experiences and all of his musical vision in a unique summation; the alternation of original pieces written with the maximum attention to melody and to harmonic simplicity (without ever falling into banality), with those that have constituted the traditional American songbook—above all those of Jerome Kern—it is the mix that has always characterized the work of Scott.

Accompanied only by the piano of Mark Shilansky, the voice of the singer from Somerville makes a path by way of highly noted standards and original compositions, the characteristics standing out clearly: a powerful and refined timbre, with total control of the dynamics and phrasings. The two musicians have collaborated for almost 10 years, and the “feeling” between them permits the creation of moments of perfect accord.

“Dyad” had laborious and unusual beginnings. Scott’s initial intention was to record an album with more personnel but, given the costs of recording, he decided to cut only a few demos accompanied by Shilansky, so that he could take time to arrange them. But, as soon as he heard the results obtained in this way, he decided that it would be good if the public heard the pieces just as they were. He thought about making them available for digital download only, but with another listening he realized that it could be a real album unto itself, an album of just piano and voice: thus “Dyad.”

A “dyad,” as we all know, is something two sided, which consists of two parts that only taken together give a sense of the whole. The dualism the title refers to is not only that, obviously, of voice and piano, but is also tied to the choice of pieces (the 10 pieces are half unpublished and half standards) as well as to that which unites symbolically—for the most part in the creation of similar atmospheres—the 1st track and the 10th, the 9th and the 2nd, and so on.

The attention to formal construction is also found in single pieces, often realized with a special attention to symmetry. From here arises (but not only from here) the refinement of the entire disc: the form is calibrated and projected with attention, nothing is left to chance. The music is like that too: not a superfluous note—Scott says that he appreciates Shilansky above all for his capacity to play a note only when it is necessary, and not every time that the harmony permits it—and a rare smoothness/polish, whether in the original themes or in the renderings of standards, makes “Dyad “ a unique disc, precisely for that accuracy in the design which makes it more similar to a large pop production than to a jazz record: but its fascination also lies in this. In evidence of all this, there is the track in our compilation, “The Song is You,” one of the most famous pieces written by the pair Kern/Hammerstein. Not frequently performed by a small lineup, in the version by Scott and Shilansky it is, even in its velocity, polished and involving. “Recording it,” the singer told us, “was like going on a roller coaster: exhilarating! And what’s more I had no desire to come down…”

In the immediate future, for David Thorne Scott, there are above all concerts, to promote “Dyad,” but also for the simple pleasure of “communicating something to whoever listens” as he likes to say. Not only accompanied by the loyal Shilansky but also playing the piano himself, or in a quartet with John Funkhouser (bass), John Hazilla (drums) and Daryl Lowery (saxophone); it wouldn’t be a bad thing if one of these lineups landed in Italy too.